John Bladon v Polls Yard MC Limited & Ors

Facts

The applicant, Mr John Bladon, owns 4 Polls Yard, Castor, Cambridgeshire, one of four dwellings arranged around a communal courtyard developed under a 1991 planning permission for two barn conversions and two new dwellings. A transfer dated 9 February 1996 between the Winfrey brothers as sellers, Poll's Yard M.C. Limited as management company and Mr Bladon as buyer imposed restrictive covenants, including a covenant not to alter external elevations without the sellers' written consent ("the consent covenant") and a covenant not to use the property otherwise than as a single private dwellinghouse ("the user covenant"). The same covenants bind and benefit all four properties, which are further tied together by a management company in which each owner holds one share, mutual rights of way, service charge obligations and a registered restriction on disposition. On 8 January 2024 the applicant obtained planning permission, and listed building consent, to convert the garage and barn within his curtilage into a separate dwelling to be known as 5 Polls Yard, intending to move there and sell the existing house. The user covenant prevented implementation, and on 16 September 2025 he applied to the Upper Tribunal under section 84(1)(aa) and (c) of the Law of Property Act 1925 to modify it. The management company and the owners of 1, 2 and 3 Polls Yard objected.